Slippery Issues

So it is now three years on and the Le Creuset non-stick pan I bought is no longer particularly non-stick. Despite their claims that the coating stands up even in high oven heats etc., it has deteriorated and will have to be discarded (once they stop doing what the were supposed to do they are worse than a metal pan).

I wondered what other's experience with these so called miracle coatings had been.

In the mean time I have ordered an All Clad equivalent and hope not to be repeating this post three years hence!

[Jenise]

I have tossed out so many "lifetime guarantee" teflon pans, including All Clads, Calphalon and others, that I no longer expect them to last more than three or four years. So I shop at places like TJ Maxx and buy high end quality for about half normal retail, and toss them when the time comes. I know I'm not religious about using only plastic spatulas that don't turn worth a crap or avoiding using forks in the pans, either. We who cook just have to consider it the cost of doing business.

I have to agree. And I always use plastic on my non-stick pans, but.....

I'm glad to learn I'm not the only one.

I've learned not to use cooking spray on my non-stick pans; they seem to last a lot longer. I don't use metal on those pans, but I do use silicone spatulas. I particularly like my Betty Crocker silicone spatulas, which I picked up for a buck apiece at Dollar Tree.

[Robin Garr]

I fairly recently got a Misen nonstick skillet online, and it's the best I've ever had. Slippery, heavy, distributes heat, balanced. They are honest people and tell you that their skillet will last for a long time, a lot longer than cheap ones, but not forever, and that anyone who tells you that their nonstick pan will last forever hath not the truth in them. I use it almost entirely for eggs, and never touch it with metal, and it still looks like new after a year or so. How would it hold up under heavier use? After paying $60 or so (sale price), I don't want to find out.

I took a look at the Misen website. Looks like a pretty amazing skillet. I particularly liked the guy blowing a fried egg across the skillet. I noticed they have three layers of nonstick coating, which really helps.

Anyone use a carbon steel skillet? What's your opinion?

FWIW, Robin, I noticed you joined FLDG on my anniversary in '06, and I joined a month later.

I've just about given up on teflon pans of any kind. I've had 'em all, including fancy-pants Swiss Diamond, and they all wear out.

At this moment, I do not own a teflon pan (I do own a few small teflon pots.) My main cooking pans are 1x cast iron, 2x Calphalon, and 1x ceramic. The Calphalon are years old but I scrub them with Barkeeper's Friend and they remain useful. The cast iron pan is slowly deteriorating and I seem unable to put surface on it as fast as it goes. The ceramic pan, by Henckel's, is a funny duck: not my first choice but I needed a pan and it was there.... It is a year or two old and still working but I feel like I need to baby it.

Q

Anyone use a carbon steel skillet? What's your opinion.

Emptying the kitchen in my RV I came across 2 carbon steel skillets bought 20 years ago and kept seasoned during our tra els.
I’ve put them back in use in the house, rememberingjust how good they are. Indestructible and if well seasoned, non stick. And you can resurrect the nonstick ability which you can’t do with those other surfaces. Nd they are cheap as chips!
Then as well I have a carbon steel pan which I only use for crepes and that has been in my kitchen for. 45+years.